The World of Religions, January-February 2008 —
The story takes place in Saudi Arabia. A 19-year-old married woman meets a childhood friend. He invites her into his car to give her a photo. Seven men arrive and kidnap them. They assault the man and rape the woman several times. The woman files a complaint. The rapists are sentenced to light prison terms, but the victim and her friend are also sentenced by the court to receive 90 lashes for being alone and in private with a member of the opposite sex who is not a member of their immediate family (this offense is called khilwa in Islamic law, Sharia). The young woman decides to appeal, hires a lawyer, and makes the case public. On November 14, the court increases her sentence to 200 lashes and additionally sentences her to six years in prison. An official at the Qatif General Court, which delivered the verdict on November 14, explained that the court had increased the woman's sentence because of "her attempt to inflame the situation and influence the judiciary through the media." The court also harassed her lawyer, barring him from handling the case and confiscating his professional license. Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have taken up the case and are trying to intervene with King Abdullah to overturn the court's unfair decision. Perhaps they will succeed? But for one woman who had the courage to rebel and go public with her tragic story, how many others are raped without ever daring to file a complaint for fear of being accused themselves of seducing the rapist or of having sinful relations with a man who was not their husband? The situation of women in Saudi Arabia, as in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, and other Muslim countries that strictly apply Sharia law, is intolerable.
In the current international context, any criticism from Western NGOs or governments is perceived as unacceptable interference, not only by political and religious authorities, but also by a section of the population. The status of women in Muslim countries therefore has no chance of truly progressing unless public opinion in these countries also reacts. The case I have just described was widely publicized and caused a certain amount of emotion in Saudi Arabia. It is thus through the exceptional courage of certain women who are victims of injustice, but also of men sensitive to their cause, that things will change. Initially, these reformers can rely on tradition to show that there are other readings and other interpretations of the Quran and Sharia law, which give a better place to women and protect them more from the arbitrariness of a macho law.
This is what happened in Morocco in 2004 with the reform of the family code, which constitutes considerable progress. But once this first step is taken, Muslim countries will not escape a deeper questioning, the true emancipation of women from a religious concept and law developed centuries ago within patriarchal societies that did not admit any equality between men and women. Secularism has allowed this extremely recent revolution in mentalities in the West. There is no doubt that the definitive emancipation of women in Islamic lands will also require a total separation of religion and politics.